художник на икониPolarbear was on Channel 4′s Random Acts last week.
Random Acts is a brand new short-form daily arts strand on Channel 4. Over the course of a year, it will showcase 260 specially commissioned three-minute films chosen for their bold and original expressions of creativity.
If you’re interested in spoken word stuff, you could do worse than make sure you’re on Apples & Snakes‘ mailing list.
The other night I went to Speak Up at the Hare and Hounds - a night of poetry, spoken word and music with a little bit of crazy dancing thrown in for good measure.
It was good – the place was busy, there was a nice, relaxed atmosphere and the performers were an entertainingly mixed bunch. I’ve seen Polarbear a few times and usually enjoy his stuff so it was good to catch him again. I’d heard of Byron Vincent but hadn’t expected him to be quite so funny as he was. On the musical side of things, Tom Peel was a revelation, Martyna Baker was impressive and there was a young lady called Mahalia who blew everyone’s socks off.
Everything was admirably compered by Jodi Ann Bickley and Matt Windle, who were both very good too. A good night out, all told. Keep an eye out for the next one of these (if there is one – hopefully there will be).
икониOk, so the new thing from Polarbear isn’t being performed in Birmingham yet but hopefully it will at some point:
OLD ME is me speaking directly, warts and all about what happens when you’ve figured out what you want and where your inspiration comes from. What happens when the life you have created is a million miles from the one you grew up with? What happens when someone goes from being a single boy in Birmingham working on a building site sleeping at his moms house, to a full time artist living with his pregnant partner in the big city of London in the space of 6 months?
I didn’t make any new year resolutions, but if I did ‘go to more theatre in 2011′ might have been on there. On Saturday I ticked that box good n hard, clocking up the Rep, the Hippodrome and the Old Rep before 5pm.
The Rep – The Final Curtain
The Rep’s closing for a couple of years while they finish off the new library (which will integrate with the Rep to a fair degree). They’ll be touring around venues across Birmingham but before then they held one last little event. Joanne Malin hosted and Polarbear had written a piece for the audience to perform with some help from performers from the Young Rep.
It was short, sweet and good, wholesome fun and a nice way to see off the current place.
They were doing backstage tours after that but we didn’t have time for that because we wanted to go and see…
Birmingham Hippodrome – (re)Stretch
This was ace. I went to a little preview on Friday night and it was so good I went back on Saturday. (re)Stretch answers the question ‘how much fun would it be to string up 8 miles(!) of fine elastic to make a 10 metre-wide screen and then project things on to it and make it make noise too?’. The answer is, of course ‘very fun’, especially as you’re encouraged to get involved and play with the thing.
At the preview on Friday a couple of dancers cavorted in and around the piece (it’s presented in association with DanceXchange), which was lovely, but they were no match for the unrestrained glee shown by a class of young ballet dancers on Saturday when they were let loose on it.
It’s free and it’s there until Sunday 16 January. Martin Pickard’s taken some lovely pics from the Friday which you can see in this slideshow:
The Old Rep – The Firework Maker’s Daughter
We managed to score some tickets to this at the last minute, leading to the admission that I’d never actually been to the Old Rep before. It’s a good place and the staff were very nice and friendly. The show itself (written by Philip Pullman) was more kiddy-friendly than the sort of thing I’m used to (this was the Christmas show, after all) but it was entertaining enough – the elephant costumes were ace and it had a good energy about it.
Also on a theatrical tip
Two new things (to me, at least) gleaned from the arts bit of the BCC website. First up, Verbalise which culminates in a performance on Thurs 3 June:
A celebration of young people’s written and spoken words. Verbalise showcases the talents of Birmingham’s emerging spoken word artists and performance poets, kicking off with a series of Saturday afternoon workshops led by renowned spoken word artist PolarBear. Verbalise culminates in two days of performances, in and around Birmingham City Centre and appearances as part of the Young Readers festival in Birmingham Central Library and at Aston Hall’s Book Bash.
And Visualise, which is slated for the end of October 2010:
At its heart will be a major open visual arts competition for young people of all ages, to be hosted in a high profile city centre venue. The festival will also offer the chance to see the work of other arts and community organisations from across the city, working with young people and the visual arts.
A coordinator is needed for that one, if you’re interested.
Return is very recommended. Weds and Thurs this week at mac. I’ve just got myself a ticket.
As a bonus, there’s an interview with Polarbear here.
I meant to write this up a while back and was reminded by Polarbear appearing on Radio 3′s The Verb (click here to listen again, he’s on at 11mins) the other night.
I’ve gone on a bit about how good I think Polarbear (Steve Camden to his mum) is and a few weeks back I went to see his show ‘If I Cover My Nose You Can’t See Me’ at the REP (who joint-commissioned it with others). In short (and I’d be prepared to go on at length if you really want) it was brilliant.
After the show everyone was ushered up to the REP’s mezzanine where musical partner Afrosaxon was manning the decks and graphic designer Goonism was sketching characters from the show. We also had a reading from one of Polarbear’s inspirations – a fantastic lady whose name, I’m ashamed to say, I didn’t get.
The photo below might need a bit of explaining. Polarbear works with the West Brom-based Multistory on arts projects with kids, doing all sorts including making these masks (his black eye is make-up from the show, by the way).
Anyway, it was great and if/when he comes back it’d be well worth checking his show out. For that matter, I reckon spoken word in general is a hugely underrated artform. I know there are a few things about but if you know of/organise anything of that ilk around Birmingham then feel free to hit the comments below with detais of your next event.
All photos by Lee Allen of Front Row Photos.
8Sixteen32 is on at The Rep from 5-8 November. You’re invited “to follow the intertwining paths of five MCs as they go head-to-head in a fierce lyrical battle”.
The Decypher Collective presented a work in progress back in 2007 but this here is the finished article. The collective:
originally formed after taking part in huge grime workshops put on by Punch Records and the Rep theatre. Hailing from various crews and production houses from all over Birmingham these intervals came together to develop the UKs first ever example of Grime Theatre
It’s the list of people involved that made my ears prick up though – Punch, Polarbear, Charlie Dark and Mark de Clive Lowe.
Here’s the trailer:
And here’s the flyer:
I’ve just booked my tickets for this and can’t wait.
Spoken word/hip hop lyricist Polarbear will be performing ‘If I Cover My Nose You Can’t See Me‘ will be at The Door from 14 to 16 October. See the vid to see what Polarbear‘s about:
and here’s the flyer:
I’ve heard a rumour about some aftershow parties somewhere but I’ve not had anything confirmed, so let’s just keep that between us for now.
Before we get to the interview, you need to know that PolarBear will be at the Garrick Theatre in Lichfield on 9 July – details after the interview. Anyway, I’ll leave Frankie to get on with things…
When Frankie Met Poet/MC PolarBear… or didn’t! Due to being immensely popular an arranged meeting never materialized and instead the two conversed via email:
Frankie: So firstly, the new show “If I cover my nose you can’t see me” is described as a story about what happens to what we used to want. So what does that mean and what should audiences expect?
PolarBear: The story is about the idea that what we plan as kids often gets completely lost. Some part of us is always a kid and that somewhere those plans stay with us, it’s just that grown up stuff covers over them.
Audiences can expect a story about a 10 year-old boy and a man of 28 as their lives intertwine and they both make decisions that will completely change their lives.
You’re starting off in London too. When and where will Birmingham audiences get to see the show?
Yeah gonna do a couple nights at Purcell Room, Southbank centre which is exciting with Goonism doing live art work and a music event after. Will be doing some one offs here and there and come to Birmingham REP in October this year, I think around the 17th/18th. Goonism will be there too so be good to show the finished article to brummies.
On your Myspace page you call it ‘The best thing I’ve ever performed’ and praise the team who you worked with, including director Yael Shavit. A lot of people who write and perform their own pieces also choose to direct it. What made you get a separate director involved and how was the experience of working with her?
I honestly believe that you can’t direct yourself. Not properly. Just like you can’t edit yourself. Not properly. It’s important to get someone else’s eyes involved. With Yael (Shavit) it was a matter of me liking her work and her appreciation of a story and realistic characters and trusting that she could get the best out of me.
Working with her has honestly been the best thing ever for my performance. We understand each other and trust each other, which feels like it is the basis for a good creative relationship.
The production also features music by Foy Vance. I’ve always had him down as the acoustic/folk type. How did that collaboration come about?
I met Foy a couple of years ago on a TV thing and we became friends. I like what he does and he likes what I do and we started working together when we got chance and I asked him to create some sounds very early on in the process.
Moving onto Afrobear… is that a musical partnership? Is the recorded music on your myspace page part of Afrobear or is that part of an individual project?
Afrobear is a long-standing relationship between myself and my friend Len who produces under the moniker Afrosaxon. Basically he is my favourite beat maker ever and I get to write rhymes and make tunes with him as AFROBEAR. It’s our version of what hip-hop should be today.
There is, at any one time, maybe one or a couple AFROBEAR tracks on my myspace and these will be credited clearly. Other stuff is work with other producers or just me on my own.
Why have you called the album ‘Not Shit’? Are you expecting backlash!? What can we expect from it?
Not too fussed about backlash to tell you the truth. ‘Not Shit’ is a term we use to describe stuff we like, a lot. It’s a Brummie trait of not being that impressed by much so the norm is ‘shit’ and good stuff is ‘Not Shit’.
You’ve called Brighton your favourite place to perform. Why?
I’ve been lucky enough to perform in lots of places in the last three years and had some great experiences and to date, no terrible ones. Some ones I’ve not particularly enjoyed but none that have gone really badly. With Brighton, I performed at a place called the Komedia and the crowd were the warmest most respectful audience to every single performer. It was pretty inspiring and I’m quite a cynical person really. Amazing.
Good people down there.
Do you think it is important to remain in Birmingham or are you planning to move to London? Is Brum part of your ‘creative process.’
I’m actually based in London now due to my family. My girlfriend works in theatre and her work meant she couldn’t leave London and we had a little boy and being free-lance I could be based anywhere so I went down. I’m up in Brum at least two days a week for workshop work and so it feels like I live in two places, but it’s working. It’s important to me to be from Birmingham.
It will always be home. The people I grew up with here and know now are the inspiration for everything I have written so far.
And finally… after Colin Murray played ‘Jessica’ on his show you must have got a lot more interest. What was the inspiration for ‘Jessica’ and is Jessica real?
Nice one Colin Murray. I mean it’s nice to reach more people’s ears I guess and I didn’t even know it was gonna happen. He’s played it a few times now which is nuts but good exposure.
Jessica is based on reality and was inspired by a few experiences in my life as well as things that haven’t happened yet.
Jessica is very real. But maybe I changed her name.
PolarBear will be appearing at the Garrick Theatre at 10pm on Wed 9 July. Tickets are only £6.50 – which is an absolute bargain.
This year’s Lichfield Festival starts on 3 July and closes on the 13th with a programme of music, theatre, visual arts and film.
A nice touch (cos I look for this things) is a blog by the Festival Director, Richard Hawley, who has been posting his thoughts up all this week.
You can see the festival programme but it’s worth highlighting the local talent on show:
